"Initiating primary systems check..."
"Checking. Complete. All systems are online."
"Synchronizing..."
"Synchronization complete. Authorized personnel may now access the portal chamber."
The feminine robot voice finished speaking. It's electronic voice emitting from seemingly all around the hall.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the hallway as Dr.Jonathan Maddox approached the white metal door. The young doctor had brown hair which contrasted his pale skin. Fully clad in a long white coat, in his arms he held a file folder with papers tightly tucked in.
He stopped at the door and shifted the folder in his right armpit over to his left hand. Activated by proximity alert, a panel in the wall to the right side of the door slid open, revealing a numbered pad. The doctor lifted his hand to the pad, fingers flying over the buttons, typing a code. When he was done, there was a light 'beep' sound which indicated that the door was unlocked. Immediately, the metal door slid into a crevice in the wall. The clinking sound of machines being operated sounded as it sighed and fell into place.
The doctor was in a large room with white walls, and lined with various machines. Bright ceiling lights hung low with long black cables. There were monitors hanging from the ceiling, and at several desks. All of the monitors were very thin, and seemed to made out of glass. Computer terminals sat beneath the monitors while all the cabling was exposed leading to various outlets. Information storage units and recording devices stood in the very back of the room. At the front was a large, circular frame. It stood on a small pedestal, and it looked like it was intricately designed with high tech machinery. Cables as thick as a apple lead from the frame to generators tucked behind it. In the frame where three rings. A smaller ring in the middle which was lined on the inside with triangular nodes, each about an inch apart. Then two more rings on either side of the smaller one, both metal plated. They were built on a axle which meant they must be capable of spinning motion.
Dr.Maddox walked to a computer located in the back corner, and tapped the screen, making a holographic screen fill the clear plate. The screen held open two windows. On the left side was a was a wall of text displaying diagnostics. On the right was a window with no text, and a flashing black bar which indicated he could type into it. With a wave of his hand, another hologram popped out from the desk itself. This time floating in the air, like it was being held by nothing. The hologram resembled a keyboard, with illuminated letters and numbers hovering in place. He placed his fingers over the buttons and they responded just like a normal keyboard. Typing out a very long line of code, he tapped a button saying "enter" and the text he just typed disappeared. Looking at the left window, he saw that more text was added to the already existing long list. Reviewing it carefully, the opening of a door broke his concentration. Looking to his right, he saw a older man in a black suit named Hans Thompson, followed by several more scientists dressed similarly as Maddox.
"Good evening Doctor. Is the device ready?"
Forgetting that it was even almost one o' clock in the afternoon, the doctor sputtered with his words at first.
"Erm, yes. All the bugs have been worked out of the system and we believe that we can begin our first tests with the portal."
"Good to hear. I trust that you have everything under control?"
"Yes sir. My labs are fully operational, and the team has just made an assessment of our test procedures."
"Waste no time. I want this device up and running as soon as possible. This could mean an infinite number of possibilities doctor!"
"I understand. I'll fetch the probe." And with that the doctor went over to another monitor on the far left side of the room. It was considerably bigger than the others and when the hologram sprung to life, it had on it a display of a blueprint, and very small text. Without hesitation, he typed only one command into the computer and again hit 'enter'.
Directly to the right of the computer Dr.Maddox was at, was a small door in the wall which opened itself. The door lifted upwards to reveal a medium sized saucer shaped device. It was completely smooth and round except for the front of it which bore a small robotic head. In the center of it's circular back, as a small helicopter-like blade. As if it were aware of it's surroundings, the device flickered to life as the sound of spinning propellers caused it to lift itself from the ground and fly out into the larger room. It hovered in the middle area as it waited. Sensing the new presence, the woman-like robot voice turned itself on again.
"Probe Activated."
"Start er' up!", Shouted Dr.Maddox to the other scientists in the room. At his command, they each began typing into separate computers.
Maddox walked to the back of the room again to another computer. Looking down, he saw it activate itself as the screen said, "Portal device online. Awaiting conformation for activation.". Slowly this time, the doctor used his hand he wasn't holding the folder in to glide to the "Y" button. Hesitantly, he pressed it to get a fast beeping melody from the computer.
Every person in the room stepped back to where Dr.Maddox was standing, and observed. Some of the scientists held holopads in their hands. Tablet sized nano-infused panes of plastic that displayed holograms. The large circular frame in the back became illuminated with blue light as the inner ring's nodes lit up with electricity. As the intensity of the light increased, a electric barrier formed around each node making an electrical ring inside the frame.
"Ring one. Activated."
Immediately after the voice announced it, the two rings on either side whirred to life. The nano-circuitry buzzing and cracking with energy. Starting out slow, the rings counter rotated in a steady motion. After awhile, they reached a peak acceleration and became one blurry circle.
"Rings two and three. Activated. Generating torsion field."
The air in the room was being pulled to the center of the rings. Some of the female scientists held back their long hair as it began to whip in their faces. A loud cracking sound rang in the room as a tornado-like whirl formed inside the portal frame. Composed of pure energy and powered by the torsion generator, it's blue color radiated around the white walls casting a baby blue glow.
The light intensified and the energy in the air could be felt all around. The mini tornado kept on growing until it covered all of the inner ring and let out vicious cracks of energy. Lightning shot out of the frame, scorching the walls and ground. The people in the room stood in shock and awe. The holographic images on the computers shimmered. The low hanging lights on the ceiling started to fade. The man in the black suit held on tightly to a desk.
"Doctor?"
"Uhh..." spat out Dr.Maddox, who was now also mildly worried. he reached for a holopad and quickly activated a remote display panel. In a failed attempt, Maddox frantically tried to tap on several commands.
All of a sudden, every screen vanished, and the lights turned off. The only light in the room was coming from the spinning portal device in the center. A second later, there was an explosion of light followed by a thunderous boom. Everyone shielded their eyes as the room began drowned in pure white light.
Dr.Maddox was the first to open his eyes. The room was still dark, but eerily lit by the blue light from the portal. It wasn't as bright as it had been and seemed to be in a stable condition. In the frame could be nothing seen but a dark void with occasional flashes of lightning. The lights flashed a few times and turned on, returning the normal brightness. All of the computers simultaneously turned back on with a humming noise. The robotic voice stuttered, and it too returned.
"Portal device is online and functioning. Portal frame stabilized."
Everyone else slowly opened their eyes and looked around. Everything was as it had been, minus the inter dimensional portal emitting weird sounds and light at the front of the room.
"Ahem, initiate test drone test one." calmly said Dr.Maddox, who was the only one seemingly unfazed by what had happened. Nobody else paid any more attention to the event and two scientists approached the drone which was now on the floor. The female scientist knelt down and opened up a panel on the bottom right side of the drone, revealing a small circuit board with different colored wires running to the plugs. She carefully unplugged one wire, and moved it to another slot. The drone's nano machinery activated and it hovered into the air.
"You had me worried", said Mr.Thompson "Is this all part of the procedure?"
"Of course." Maddox replied coolly. Although he was still slightly worried. He hadn't expected the portal to react that way, but it was probably nothing severe.
He distracted himself from the older man to observe the drone. The two scientists on either side of it were writing down things in their holopads. The male finished typing and looked over to Maddox. The scientist pushed up his glasses.
"Permission to send in the probe sir?"
"Procede."
The male scientist turned to nod at his fellow female associate and she typed a remote command into her holopad. The probe responded by slowly flying to the portal frame. This was it. Everyone stared in silence. The probe drew closer. Every second feeling like a minute.
Finally, the drone approached the portal and with some effort pushed itself inside, and vanished in a blue flash. Everyone waited to make sure it had reached the other side before returning to the monitors to observe data. A loud noise pierced the silence. Before anyone could react, the probe flew out of the portal at high speeds and crashing into a wall, breaking. Some of the scientists let out a scream. The robotic voice announced something.
"Inorganic anomally not recognized. Probe rejected."
Everyone groaned. Dr.Maddox slammed his fist against the table. Papers in the folder on the desk flew onto the floor.
"God dammit!" Maddox cursed loudly.
Mr.Thompson sighed and inspected the pieces of the broken probe. He then quickly turned to Maddox, looking irritated.
"What the hell happened!?"
The doctor ran his hand through his hair.
"I just don't know what went wrong..."
"Well then why don't you-" The man was interrupted by the AI voice that shocked everyone when it's voice began speaking.
"Warning. Malfunction. Torsion field unstable."
Dr.Maddox ignored what Mr.Thompson was about to say and ran past him, bumping his shoulder over to a computer monitor. He inspected the lines of text and surely enough, something had gone wrong. The veil that separated the void from Earth broke concentration, causing a ripple. The ripple probably is what caused the earlier odd events as well, it wasn't as severe then. The void was like a water balloon. By opening the portal, the balloon stretched, and the probe acted like a needle, causing it to leak. This time, it fully shook loose. The portal began to collapse on itself.
It was too late when Dr.Maddox looked to the portal. It was now operating at such a high frequency that it was sucking in everything in the room. the walls and ground shook violently. Computers ripped off of the walls and flew into the portal. Ceiling tiles flew off. Numerous papers flying around like a hurricane. Everyone held on for dear life.
An unfortunate scientist lost her grip, and fell into the void screaming. Her scream was barely heard by the sound of things being sucked into the now out of control portal. Another scientist followed, leaving one more clinging to a edge of a desk. He screamed out.
"Help me!"
"Grab my hand!", yelled Jonathan over the loud commotion. He extended an arm to the nameless scientist a few inches away. Slowly getting closer, the desk that he held onto ripped off of the floor and the scientist flew into the pit with it.
"Holy shit!", Dr.Maddox screamed as he clung to a white table that was mounted on the ground. He looked over to his right to find Mr.Thompson sitting on the ground with his back being pressed by the flat side of a desk. The doctor was suddenly thrown into the air as a information storage unit attached to the wall behind him flew off and collided with him, breaking his grip.
He yelled out in surprise as he was now being sucked towards the portal. Closer and closer, he saw a thick black computer cable sticking out of the ground. The computer that was attached to it now non-existent. As the cable flung outwards to where everything else was being pulled in, Maddox took the opportunity to reach for it. He missed at first, feeling panicked but threw out his other arm and pulled himself to it tightly. Dangling now only a few feet away from the endless pit.
"Jonathan!", hearing his first name be called out, Jonathan looked up to see Mr.Thompson holding another detatched cable in his hand. "Grab on!"
He could see the black rope being led down slowly to him. Suddenly, there was an explosive sound and the piece of cover that Mr.Thompson sat against was now broken in pieces of metal and plastic. Dr.Maddox only had a second to realize that the older man was now flying directly towards him. As he felt a human body hit his own he let out a painful yell as he was yanked away from his position. Together, the last two flew into the portal, both of their yells being muffled by the sound the vortex made gobbling them up.
Upon entering the void, a bright light engulfed them, welcoming them to the enormous vacuum. Their vision returned as the could see each other, and the space around them. Cosmic dust swirled around everywhere, causing a eerie fog from the otherwise almost black shade of blue that made up the void. Lightning made of pure cosmic energy shot in all directions, coming from everywhere yet nowhere. The sound of ambiance and that similar to the sound of a storm all happened at once, creating another loud commotion. What looked at first like big glass tubes turned out to be wormholes as pieces from the lab they just came out of were sucked into several different ones. Both Jonathan and Hans Thompson were cast into a odd atmosphere. Their bodies could be sustained in the environment, yet it felt like swimming in air. It felt very dense. Heavy and light, dark and bright. It was a entirely different spectrum.
Jonathan's eyes lit up as a brilliant idea came to his mind. The wormhole which they had just came through was one they had opened themselves, through the portal device. The suction was probably stronger than the other holes, yet it would probably also close faster. They needed to get back to it before the portal device completely destroyed itself. It was their only hope.
"Mr.Thompson! We need to get back through there!" Jonathan yelled at the old man, who was now spinning in place several meters away.
"I'm trying! It's impossible!" he replied as he frantically tried to doggy paddle through the void.
In a flash of white light, Jonathan heard a scream and looked to see Mr.Thompson being hit by a blast of lightning. It lasted for only a second, and as quickly as it struck it was gone. The old man was disintegrated, his molecules blown to pieces by the power of the cosmos. Jonathan's mouth would've hit the ground, if there was a ground.
"Oh, fuck!"
Jonathan's heart was now racing. Sweat beads oozed from his pores, forming perfect circles as they drifted away in space. He looked to the hole which seemed to now be miles away and mimicked Mr.Thompson's failed attempt at trying to swim to it.
Feeling like he had been flailing around for hours, his concentration broke as he heard a loud booming sound. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, as fear took hold of him, thinking he was about to be struck by the lightning. This time the sound was louder than that. It sounded like a sonic boom and he uncovered his eyes and ears to see the wormhole he came from spinning around itself on axis. He could barely see through the clearness of cosmic energy that the middle of the wormhole had snapped shut, and seconds later the wormhole half rebounded, causing a massive kinetic push. Jonathan didn't have a moment to react as he was caught in the blast, being thrown across the void, propelled by an unseen force in space without gravity. Any second now he will deteriorate in the void, or be hit by cosmic lightning.
This is it. He thought to himself. All of my hard work. My research. What have I done?
He closed his eyes as he let himself flow through the invisible currents of the vacuum. Seeming like an eternity, he eventually felt himself being pulled by something. He duly opened his eyes and saw what was causing the pull. Another wormhole was very close to him. His heart picked up pace again. The powerful suction that drew him in was now almost stretching his body. The pain of being tugged at like rubber made him do a silent scream. He fell into the wormhole, as physics were being distorted all around him. The last thing he remembered was a bright light as he came to the center of the hole, then nothingness.
